The Aardvark Blog

May Car Boot Saturday 28th, Remembering Tony Good, Belfast, Tidal wave of books (3), Poetry Day 12th June
21/05/2022

So many things on my mind this morning, and super lots to do, so this blog will I am afraid be something of a laundry list.

In pole position I am afraid that we are closing the pitch list for the Car Boot next Saturday at 50 stalls. Frankly that is probably about as many as we can handle and I think it will give visitors a really good mixture of items to view. We will have a short reserve list, but I make no promises that people will drop out. If you are planning your weekend, then definitely incude the Aardvark Car Boot on your activity list as I know already there is going to be some great stuff on show.

Unfortunately I have been unable to get a shop sitter for today  and I am therefore missing the memorial event for Tony Good, great friend of Aardvarkia and long-time coffee supremo. I won't go on to long as I already did a blog on him a couple of weeks ago, but suffice it to say that we will not know his like again. What a gent. His memorial was to be cheery, colourful and include fireworks. So sorry to miss it.

Last night the Aardvarks were in Aymestrey village hall having a delicious bean supper (nobody appreciated my ' what was it before' joke), and watching Kenneth Branagh's remarkable film. I cannot praise it highly enough. Like John Boorman's 'Hope and Glory', it is war seen through the eyes of a child, and any tendencies to sentiment or positivity can therefore be forgiven. What 10 year old boy doesn't think his dad a hero. I am now more than 5 times that age and I still hero-worship my dad.

Last Sunday the Aardvarks with help from our crack assistants (hold your hand up Andy) completed a very large house clearance of several thousand brilliant books. House clearances ought to be graded like diving or gymnastics, and this one was definitely a '5' in terms of technical difficulty. Most of the books were up four flights of stairs, and my arms still feel as though they are carrying the last of the tomes. These books will start to feed onto the bookshelves over the next few weeks and they will add particularly to our fiction, literature, art and music sections. Not that we need additions to the art section! We still have many boxes of art books from London Book Fair to unpack, but sadly at the moment there is nowhere to put them.

Finally if you haven't already done so, please think about coming to our brilliant Poetry Day on Sunday 12th June, curated by Anna Dreda. Star turns include the ever-magical Gillian Clarke, and Pamela Petro in conversation with Annie Garthwaite, with Menna Elfyn, Paul Henry and Mike Parker. Lunch is also available on request if you so desire - please call us to book it!